Wait ...

This is Lilly telling me it is hot out here and she’s ready to go inside. She’s right, it is, but I was trying to give her every opportunity to avail herself of the backyard before returning to the cool air conditioning.

Being her pet sitter, I decide when we go in. However, I can certainly relate to her impatience. I often grow impatient waiting on God to fulfill what I assume is His plan for my current situation.

However, we are told it is not within our own power to direct our life’s plan:

Jeremiah 10:23-24

O Lord, I know it is not within the power of man to map his life and plan his course -- so you correct me, Lord; but please be gentle.

We are given very specific instructions regarding waiting on the Lord:

Psalm 27:14

Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and He will come & save you! Be brave, stouthearted & courageous. Yes, wait and He will help you.

Sometimes when we don’t see a way out, we go within ourselves and create our own path. When we are unsure about the direction to go, we receive this instruction:

Psalm 37:24

Don’t be impatient for the Lord to Act! Keep traveling steadily along His pathway and in due season He will honor you with every blessing, and you will see the wicked destroyed.

When I was contemplating moving for months, I had my mentor pray with me about it. God gave her these words for me and He said they also pertain to things others are going through: “Relax, don’t’ settle. It’s going to be easier than you think when it comes time to do it.”

Often things get worse before they get better. Look at Isaiah & how God used him repeatedly trying to save the people of Israel. God speaks through Isaiah pleading with them in Isaiah 46:3-4: Listen to me, all Israel who are left; I have created you and cared for you since you were born. I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Savior.

Then we hear the reward God bestows on Isaiah in:

Isaiah 49:23

Kings and queens shall serve you; they shall care for all your needs. They shall bow to the earth before you, lick the dust from off your feet; then you shall know I am the Lord. Those who wait for me shall never be ashamed.

We receive rewards while waiting on God:

Lamentations 3:25-26

The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

God is teaching us while we’re waiting:

Romans 8:25

But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.

Sometimes we are in the process of receiving God’s answer in our lives and we don’t even realize it because it happens a little at a time:

Exodus 23:27-30

The terror of the Lord shall fall upon all the people whose land you invade, and they will flee before you; and I will send hornets to drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites from before you. I will not do it all in one year, for the land would become a wilderness, and the wild animals would become too many to control. But I will drive them our a little at a time, until your population has increased enough to fill the land.

We are powerful as we wait:

1st Corinthians 1:7

Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing his will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are growing in our understanding of God’s love while we wait:

2nd Thessalonians 3:5

May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and of the patience that comes from Christ.

Prayer:

Beloved Father, we stand humbly on your words of Psalm 139: 1-5

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought. You chart the path ahead of me, and tell where to stop and rest. You know what I am going to say before I even say it. You both precede and follow me, and place your hand of blessing on my head.

We receive this blessing and ask for continued guidance during every second of every minute of our lives.

Please give us keen ears to hear your voice and submissive hearts to follow where you lead us.

Fortify us with wisdom and discernment to recognize attacks of the enemy.

Father, God. We lift our love and praise to you for your loving kindness and protection which you cloak each one of us and our families in daily. We can never thank you enough! Amen!